Sydney
Of all of the wonderful things I could say about riding the new Sydney Metro last, it was the public art that spoke to me.
Inspired by the theme 'Storyline', 19 artists were selected to create public art for the City and Southwest Metro line. This one below by Callum Morton at Gadigal is a stunning addition to Sydney with a beautiful sight line from the Park Street public domain.
These new cultural landmarks will surely become symbols of the city.
I remember as a kid, Mum’s car would sit idling in traffic as the Glebe Island Bridge sat cantilevered open for boats to pass through. I’d sit fixated on the construction of the monstrous pylons next door that would soon become the Anzac Bridge.
Anzac has since become iconic - serving in films and commercials and becoming a much-loved part of the city’s skyline. But it’s limited by its own height. Cars are suited to grade separation and steep inclines, but pedestrians and cyclists move better closer to the ground plane.
Glebe Island Bridge has sat a disused relic. But imagine it was re-instated: connecting cyclists and pedestrians across one of our harbour’s most loved Bays. One of Australia’s last swing bridges, its historical significance is physical - but it’s also deeply rooted to Sydney’s cultural identity. Particularly that of the inner west.
Excited that these two beautiful bridges could one day operate side-by-side.
(Image courtesy NewCorp)
It was the summer defined by smoked-filled air and underlying anxiety, as NSW dealt with some of its worst bushfires on record. But for a lot of Sydneysiders, life went on: beaches were full, and joggers were out each morning braving the haze.
Spending a lot of time at Bondi’s North Rocks this summer, I thought about the incredible value that these places give to the city... They offer respite - but are also social and leisure spaces where people gather to exercise, talk and spend time with their families. Sitting next to what are sometimes $7, $8, or $9 million dollar private properties, its nice to remind ourselves that we have some of the world’s best public spaces right along our coastline. And perhaps the importance of our beaches was even more apparent this summer as people sought fresh ocean breeze to avoid the ever-present smoke.
A couple of summer snaps below.
"The late 20th century was a unique period in architectural history in which buildings where designed to serve a social purpose. Brutalist buildings used the most basic material to keep costs down, and were most commonly built to house low-income residents or institutions.
Unlike 18th-century houses, their importance is about historic interest, rather than an aesthetic interest. Sirius, just like Trellick, Balfron and the Barbican in London, illustrates important aspects of the nation's social and cultural history."
Last week I had an opinion piece published in the Sydney Morning Herald on brutalist architecture in Sydney and London. You can read the full article here.
Photo by Jessica Hromas via SMH
Before leaving Sydney, I did a few photography shoots for Sydney’s new 'Neighbourhood Paper'...
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Over the last few weeks, I've been shooting a documentary photography series for the #WeLiveHere2017 campaign. Each day I've been visiting the neighbourhood of Waterloo in central Sydney to take portraits of local residents, as well as asking them a few questions about their connection with the neighbourhood.
The project aims to put a human face to public housing to encourage compassion, action and resistance to the rapid change that is taking place in this part of the city. Over the next year the state government intends to demolish and redevelop the public housing estate, displacing 4,500 of the existing residents. Unfortunately, these are some of Sydney's most vulnerable, including the elderly, disabled and those on low-incomes.
40 years ago this neighbourhood was built as a 'utopia', opened by Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip. By 2018, the existing buildings and community will have disappeared - replaced primarily by those on high incomes. The socially diverse, dynamic, inner city community - with an important cultural heritage - will be changed forever.
If you want to check out my photographs head to @WeLiveHere2017 on Facebook or Instagram. You can also learn more about the community light installation and upcoming documentary through the official website.
Getting ready to take some shots for the day. Thanks Georgia MacNevin for the photos.
Examples of portraits and stories below.
Feature image courtesy Georgia MacNevin.
A car-dependance analogy...
Read MoreJess Cook has been involved in a range of events and creative projects over the last 15 years. From running collaborative art events and helping to manage large-scale festivals, her latest endeavour is arguably the most ambitious. As Founding Member and Managing Director of Sydney’s 107 Projects, she’s been integral in creating an impressive cultural space in central Sydney. In addition to housing exhibitions, dance classes, theatre performances, artists’ in residence, horticulture, cooking and workshops spaces, 107 has become host to some of Sydney’s most prominent creative organisations and projects. Collaborations include FBI’s Ears Have Ears, Heaps Gay, Groove Therapy and The Bower, to name just a few.
Jess recently showed me around 107, talking about the space itself, as well as creative spaces, more generally.
Read MoreLast week the awesome guys at WeAreShuffle asked me if I would take over their Instagram account for a few days. With their office way up in the the UK within the cold depths of winter, I'm sure a few photos of sunshine and was to be a warm welcome on their feed. I decided to take a series of photos over three days in area of Sydney I grew up in - an inner city collection of neighbourhoods known as the 'innerwest'.
The aim was to represent the diversity of this district. On the one hand, the inner west enjoys some of the best Sydney Harbour views. Multi-million dollar properties line wide streets parked with Mercedes of the city's most 'elite'.
Just one or two kilometres away is the neighbourhood of Tempe, sitting directly under a major international flight path, where the descent of Boeings shakes the core of homes lying below. Perhaps the inner west's most interesting neighbourhood - Marrickville - was once a major industrial hub. Today, it's experiencing a phase of gentrification, much like that of London's Hackney Wick, or New York's Greenpoint. A wave of young people has quickly transformed the existing demographic.
No matter where I end up in this world, the innerwest is always my home... I guess there will always be something soothing about the sound of an A380 screeching above me.
Here are a bunch of the photos from the take-over.
Be sure to check out WeAreShuffle's feed, or my own for more.
Back in January I returned to my home city of Sydney for a month. As the plane crossed the beautiful harbour, I could see dozens of new buildings now gracing the skyline. Here is - in my opinion - the best of inner Sydney’s new architecture.
When I was in my early 20s my friends and I would head to a music night on Sydney’s Broadway called Purple Sneakers... No doubt I was annoyed when the bar was to shut to make way for a bunch of new towers.
Turn the clocks forward a decade and all is ok! One Central Park is beautifully designed (by Jean Nouvel), and with a whole load of bars, shops and cafes, it’d be hard to argue that the new area isn’t an awesome addition to the city. Having now won dozens of design and sustainability awards around the world, this is the sort of development that makes Sydney's architecture a talking point around the world.
I was lucky enough to get a tour by friend of mine, and urban planner, John O’Callaghan. Check out the film below.
Known for using unusual materials and incorporating a unique sculptural style, Frank Gehry is one of the world’s most celebrated architects.
In the past he’s been criticised for being a ‘Starchitect’ whose showey buildings overwhelm their surroundings.But in my mind, Gehry brings a sense of humanism to cities, which across the world, suffer from lifeless, boring buildings. And Sydney is no exception to this. It only takes looking at the city skyline to see that many of Sydney's existing tall building architecture is unimaginative and unambitious.
Whether you see it as ‘a beautiful paper bag’ or a ‘treehouse’, the new UTS building is a awesome new addition to the Sydney skyline.
Photo by Jason James
Through the enhancement of a beautiful 1940s art-deco building, the collaborative work of Woods Bagot architects, Fox Johnston Architects and Right Angle Studio, among others, has proved that Sydney's heritage buildings can be beautifully readapted into innovative and creative spaces for modern-day use.
The recent refurbishment has created a dynamic space for a mix of uses, including a cinema, café and workspaces. I was super impressed with Wood Bagot’s use of traditional joinery and artisan furnishings in its incredible shared office space.
Sydney has a strong record of destroying old buildings, so its awesome to see a project like this, which has seen the art-deco Paramount so nicely brought back to life.
I was originally going to include a section on the city's worst architecture, so that I could have a good old rant about Barangaroo. But for now... I'm keeping it positive!
Any other buildings that should be on this list?
I’ve just come home to what I consider one of the most beautiful cities on the planet – but just for a few weeks. As I flew back into Sydney I immediately fell back in love with the city.
The plane glided across the inner-west and I was confronted with the majestic Harbour Bridge and the city’s incredible skyline. With faces pressed hard against the windows, the passengers arriving from our last stop in Guangzhao were surely impressed.
After just a couple of weeks of re-immersing myself, I feel like although the city has made some really good steps in evolving into a modern 21st century city, it’s also taken some steps backwards.
The development of a new motorway through the inner suburbs (WestConnex), the implementation of lock-out laws, the removal of bicycle paths, and increased fines for bike riders for not wearing a helmet surely do nothing to make this city progress in a positive trajectory. In my view, these changes act to only stifle culture, relocate alcohol-related problems, and slow the city from reaching a sustainable mobility future.
At the same time however, dozens of beautiful new buildings have graced the skyline (Park Central being particularly beautiful), interesting new fashion trends have emerged, craft beer culture appears to be booming, and small bars and cafes continue to thrive.
Furthermore, dense transit-oriented development and a more efficient transport payment system (OPAL) seems to be helping to promote more sustainable forms of travel.
Everything I've said, of course, is just from initial observations, so after I do some more research, I’ll put together some pieces that talk about some of these changes in some more depth.
In the mean time, if you need me, I’ll be cruising on my bike and drinking beers in the sunshine in one of the most beautiful places on the planet... Let's just hope the police don't give me a fine for not wearing a helmet.
It's good to be home.
Sydney’s transportation network is in crisis. Decades of dependence on the car have left the roads congested, the air polluted and residents - well – fat. Furthermore, with the city’s cheaper housing stretching out into its vast western suburbs, expensive and lengthy commutes have perpetuated the growing divide between the rich and poor. But we all know that cars in cities really are a thing of the past. Over the past couple of decades there has been mounting evidence that building more roads does not alleviate congestion and traffic within urban areas.
On top of research, dependence on the personal automobile is something that millenials no longer value or desire. Unlike American films of the 1970s, young people don’t want a car for their 18th birthday. In fact, an American study has found that driving by young people decreased by 23 per cent between 2001 and 2009. Today, people want to live in walkable neighbourhoods, close to places of work, education and friends. And surely, no one wants to be the designated driver.
Driving a car simply doesn’t offer a person in the city the freedom that your own two feet or a bicycle does.
For a long time, I dreamed that Sydney would embrace a cycling culture modelled on the success of Copenhagen. Copenhagen’s street design allows children to bike around cruise safely and freely, and encourages spontaneous social interaction during the daily commute.
Unfortunately, I began to give up on that dream sometime in my early 20s. I’m not sure if it was the time I was doored by a taxi on Oxford Street, the time I was thrown to the ground by a cop for riding on the pavement, or the time a guy in an SUV tried to ‘intimidate’ me by actually drive right into me. Or perhaps, it was one of the many other times that I feared for my life because a car driver didn’t see me.
After years of abuse on the roads, it’s become hard to imagine that things will ever change.
While the problems faced by bike riders may seem commonplace in many cities across the world, other cities are changing very quickly. And Sydney is not keeping up.
In many cities, we are seeing an urban transition. New York, LA, London, Paris and Mexico City, to name just a few, are all investing heavily into bicycle infrastructure, lowering speed limits and planning new transit networks. Even China is realising the transformational effects biking and cycling infrastructure can play. Hangzhou recently opened the world’s largest bike share network with over 60,000 bikes and almost 2,500 docking stations.
This is more than just a trend. By incorporating best practices in cycling infrastructure, cities across the world are seeing improved public health, a decrease in congestion and improvement to retail in high streets. Forward-thinking local governments realise this and start building segregated bike lanes and other cycling infrastructure – not more roads.
So, what's stopping Sydney?
In most conversation about bikes in Australian cities, you hear all sorts of strange arguments. ‘It’s too hot’, ‘too hilly’, ‘we aren’t dense like European cities’. In his book, Cycling Space, Tasmanian-based architect and academic Steven Fleming has shown us how ridiculous these arguments really are. Cities with some of the most extreme temperatures or have built environments characterised by massive amounts of sprawl have far higher levels of cycling than Australian cities.
The major problem in Sydney is poor communication. More specifically, the problem with Sydney is the Daily Telegraph.
New York has recently invested in miles of bikes paths and a hugely successful bike share system. Yes, there has been a lot of debate about these changes in the media. But the debate has been relatively balanced and healthy in the media.
Unlike New York, Sydney doesn’t seem to enjoy a very healthy dialogue in mainstream media. Particularly when it comes to a conversation about bikes. It’s not a debate when the media is dominated by Rupert Murdoch.
For months on end, we’ve seen article after article in what is a blatant attack on pro-bike politicians, policies and journalists from the Daily Telegraph. And the problem with any democratic planning system is that poor communication easily leads to poor decision-making.
But it gets much more personal that that. The way in which cycling ‘accidents’ are portrayed in the paper is downright disgusting. Roads were built for bikes and people, not cars. Yet cars take the lives of dozens of riders every year. How dare the telegraph misrepresent cycling deaths by blaming improper safety equipment. Cyclists are vulnerable road users and cars are to blame.
Sydneysiders know what’s good for our city. We know that more roads are a not the solution. So why do we put up with it? The generation before us didn’t.
Sydney’s Green Bans of the 1960s and 70s were a struggle that helped to give people in Sydney the freedoms they have today. Glebe, Redfern, The Rocks and Centennial Park, would not be the beautiful places they are today if it weren’t for Jack Mundey and the BLF.
Throughout the 1970s thousands of people joined a movement to ensure that the physical nature of our city was protected, preserved and enhanced, not destroyed by oversized development and inner city motorways.
If we want to see a better Sydney, it’s time we collectively stood up to bad press and poor planning decision. Write news articles, share experiences, tell planners that you wish to ride your bike safely and freely. It’s time to take the development of our city out of the hands of Murdoch and into our own.
No, Sydney is not a European city. But now is the time to make it just that little bit more like one.
Feature image courtesy Amsterdamized.
National governments across the globe are showing a growing appreciation for the economic importance of cities. In taking an increasingly strategic approach to the development and management of powerful economic and cultural urban nodes, they’re attempting to diversify economies and invest money where it matters most. In the wake of the recession, this policy shift has been particularly strong in the UK.
Australia on the other hand, seems to be moving in the opposite direction. With the end of the resources boom in sight, perhaps it’s time ‘the lucky country’ took a long, hard look at its urban agenda. For hundreds of years, we’ve been obsessed with the nation-state paradigm. But the idea of inter-national coordination has largely failed. The United Nations has no teeth, every climate talk since Rio (1992) has failed to bring practical solutions, and the global recession has presented us with panicking national governments with little control over globalised economic systems.
With over half of the world’s population now living in urban areas, we’re seeing the emergence of a network that is more about action than stubborn nationalism. Operating across international borders, our global network of cities forms the economic and environmental collaboration that national governments cannot.
As Benjamin Barber has put it, national governments are based on “ideology”, while cities are all about “getting things done”. Cities are bound together by trade and economics, innovation and entrepreneurship, common attributes and common values. Cities are where things happen; national governments are where politicians talk.
The growing realisation of the importance of cities has sparked policy shifts worldwide: Korea is scaling-up regional city growth to diversify economic activity, Poland has recently developed a national urban strategy to become economically competitive with greater Europe, and Brazil has created a City Statute to give municipalities increased power and finance.
The UK has seen the development of a Cities Policy Unit and a host of new strategies that attempt to create a fundamental movement away from federal power to that of mayors and cities. The newly appointed Minister for Cities has called for a new era to create city systems and systems of cities. The former is concerned with equipping local leaders to strengthen productivity, liveability and sustainability outcomes, and the latter is about actively supporting urban networks as a whole, including connectivity and city specialisation. This includes investing into infrastructure such as broadband, high-speed rail and airports. The Technology Strategy Board has already made substantial investments into the Future Cities Demonstrator and Future Cities Catapult, which aim to enhance urban innovation.
With growing importance on the city scale, urban political leadership is now a hot topic. Charismatic mayors like Boris Johnson and George Ferguson are winning support by implementing real solutions to environmental and economic issues. Less focused on ideology and more focused on answers, its no wonder Johnson has been titled the most popular politician in Britain over his central government counterparts.
Tucked down on the other side of the world however, we’re seeing powers taken from Australian cities and mayors, rather than given to them. After almost a decade of developing a vibrant nighttime economy, Sydney Mayor Clover Moore’s work has been badly bruised by conservative state premier’s controversial new drinking laws. O’Farrell’s arbitrarily located restrictions are not supported by any research to indicate that they will reduce violence. Instead, they look to create late night transit chaos and hamper Sydney’s buzzing nightlife economy.
Rather than developing a strategy based on citywide coordination, it seems the new legislation was an opportunity for the state premier to simply flex his political might. While Mayor Clover Moore is about “getting things done”, O’Farrell’s policies are based on political gain.
Issues such as these are all too common in Australia. As underfunded local councils struggle to coordinate important planning processes with the powerful state governments above, planning and economic development remains an under-resourced, ad hoc process. Australia is in serious need of city systems and systems of cities strategies.
Just two years ago there was progress in making this happen. Australia’s previous government created the Major Cities Unitwhich outlined key long-term priorities for urban productivity and sustainability. Highly regarded by academia, as well as infrastructure, planning and property councils, the Unit showed promise for strategic city alignment, including investment into high-speed rail.
Today, all investment into the Unit has been withdrawn and momentum towards a national urban strategy has come to a halt. Not only does Prime Minister Tony Abbott have blatant disregard for the natural environment but he also struggles to see the importance of investing into research and long-term strategy, even when concerned with economic growth.
Australia remains plagued by a three-tiered governance structure that stifles coordination: citywide governance is fragmented (dozens of local councils with no metropolitan authority), local to state government relationships are a political battle, and federal intra-city investment is non-existent.
Countries affected by recession have worked to develop national policies to diversify industry and build economic resilience. In the meantime, Australia has stood back with its eyes closed. With the resource boom beginning to slow, perhaps now’s the time for Australia to rethink how its cities can develop and integrate into the growing global urban network.
This article was originally written for This Big City and is also available in Spanish.
Feature image courtesy This Big City.
Quickly becoming an enclave for the rich, it's obvious that the city's lack of supply is perpetuating the affordability crisis.
Read MoreSydney has demonstrated increased enthusiasm for bikes over the last few years. As someone born and raised in the city, this is something that I’m super proud of.
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We live in a new urban era. Not only do more people now live in cities than rural areas, but urban populations in the developing world are expected to more than double from 2.5 billion in 2009 to nearly 5.2 billion in 2050.
Urban populations in the developing world are expected to more than double from 2.5 billion in 2009 to nearly 5.2 billion in 2050
With this tremendous growth, cities are taking on new meaning; they are the centres of cultural diffusion, financial boom and bust, opportunity, prosperity and, as we have recently seen, solidarity.
Arguably, cities have surpassed the nation-state as key economic units and global organising nodes. With this, we have entered a new age of city competition as each fight for world city status, the largest events or the most important businesses. The current urban era is like nothing this planet has ever seen before.
The governance mechanisms and processes that manage our cities have been unable to cope with such change. Traditional ways of thinking about formality, traffic engineering, property development and architecture are quickly being overturned by a new urbanist movement; a movement that places the importance back on the human scale.
We are seeing a movement away from traditional zoning methods, egotistic architecture and car domination. Slowly but surely, we are also seeing the demise of the greedy downtown property developer. Perhaps if anything, the GFC has helped to spur this progress.
With this new wave of thinking, we are seeing a new wave of professionals including planners, architects, engineers, politicians, scholars and activists, who are quickly transforming the cities in which we live. Around the world, progressive thinkers are achieving amazing things. Whether its bridging the rich and poor housing gap, getting cycling on the infrastructure agenda, designing creating youth spaces or chair-bombing a local park, we are seeing rapid urban changes around the world.
This series for the Urban Times will hone in on cities across the globe to speak with the next generation of urban professionals who are particularly innovative in they way that they think. City-by-city, this series will take you on a journey across the globe to find give you an insight into the future of the urban.
I'll keep you up to date on the article numero uno.
Around the world, city authorities are developing unstructured creative spaces into more lucrative commercial or residential zones – but the ability to generate more income from these areas comes at a cultural cost.
Read MoreStencil Graffiti and sticker art subculture has been around for a good few decades...
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Early mornings are always a good time to take photos down at Bondi.
I was hanging out with my grandpa down at his favourite beach this morning - Bondi. After years of heading there with friends and family, taking photos, swimming and surfing, I thought it was about time I shared my thoughts on what is also one of my favourite places in Sydney.
Bondi is one of the world's most famous beaches, and is incredibly special to Sydney. Located 7 kilometres from the Central Business District, it has always been the 'city beach' (my 95 year old grandpa wouldn't let you forget it), and is the face of almost every Australian marketing campaign - from Bondi Rescue to QANTAS advertisements to Oporto's Burgers. But what has kept Bondi beautiful is not its fame, or fortune... It is actually, the opposite.
Me chatting away on the phone while my friend Sam Doss patiently waits on... :)
North-side view of the beach.
Surfers catching late afternoon swell.
Bondi has never peaked. It has never been too crowded, nor has it ever become overdeveloped. Transport to Bondi is difficult, parking is a nightmare and developers have never stood a chance. Sometimes you have to be cruel to be kind.
Without a train line or multi-storey apartments, Bondi has managed to stave off Gold Coast-style developments that have been occurring across Australian coastlines. In doing so, it has managed to hold on to that small coastal town mentality and laid back vibe - even in the midst of tourist season.
Bondi may have become made famous because of its golden sand and surf breaks, but its the intimate character of its shoreline that has helped to keep it special, and stopped it from expanding at its own peril - like so many other coastal boom towns.
The Annandale Hotel in Sydney's inner west is a bit an institution. Not only does it support the local music and drinking scene, but being one of the few remaining live music venues left in Sydney, it has also hosted some of the biggest bands in the world.
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